GARBA Kwankwaso, the younger brother of the former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has dragged the State governor and five others before a Kano High Court, pursuant to Order 38 Rule 4,(1), Order 39 Rule 1 (2), Order 45 Rule 14 of The Kano State High Court Rules, 2014.
Garba Kwankwaso is praying for: “An order of interlocutory injunction restraining the defendants/respondents either by themselves, their agents, privies, servants, representatives and/or contractors or whosoever acting on their behalf or instructions from entering upon, demarcating, beaconing, partitioning, building, allocating any part or doing any act adverse to the interest of the Plaintiffs/Applicants on the plaintiffs/Applicants’ piece of land lying and situate along Western By-Pass at Kwankwasiyya 11, Kano, Kano State particularly described in Survey Plan No. TP/KNUPDA/333 delineated red and marked as WAECO Nigeria Limited covered by Certificate of Occupancy No. LKN/COM/2013/84 (hereinafter called the subject (property) pending the determination of the substantive suit filed by the Plaintiffs/Applicants.
“And such other order(s) as this honourable court may deem fit to make in the circumstances of this case.”
The application is supported by a nine-paragraph affidavit deposed to by one Faith Job, a litigation secretary in the firm of P.A. Attabor & Co., counsel to the Kwankwasos.
Aside from the Governor of Kano State, other defendants in the lude the Commissioner for Land and Physical Planning as 2nd defendant; Kano State Urban Planning and Development Authority, KNUPDA as 3rd defendant; the Attorney General of Kano State as the 4th defendant; and Unknown Persons as the 5th defendant.
The land in question, located in Kwankwasiyya City, was initially allocated to WAECO Nigeria Limited during Rabiu Kwankwaso’s administration.
However, his successor, Abdullahi Ganduje, revoked the allocation after a 2017 investigation by the Kano State Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Commission revealed that WAECO was not a legal entity at the time of the allocation.
The Kano State Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Commission had revealed that the actual company behind the “WAECO” acronym was “Water and Agricultural Engineering Company Limited”, in which the former governor and his brother were alleged to be directors.
After the revocation, Mr Ganduje relocated Mallam Kato Square to a portion of the land and returned the remaining hectares to the original owners, including the famous Dantata family.
According to sources, the incumbent governor of the state, Abba Yusuf, however, resisted pressure to revoke the land, measuring over 100 hectares, and return it to WAECO NIigeria Limited.
Following the governor’s alleged refusal, Garba Kwankwaso then applied to a Kano High Court,
The application is supported by a nine-paragraph affidavit deposed to by one Faith Job, a litigation secretary in the law firm of P.A. Attabor & Co., counsel to the Kwankwasos.
Granting the order on November 13, Justice Usman Na’abba adjourned the case till 27 November for hearing of the application of the interlocutory injunction.
Eighteen-Eleven Media